Photon torpedo
A photon torpedo (or Pu'DaH dak cha in Klingonese) was a tactical missile commonly deployed aboard starships and starbases by various organizations. The Klingons had been fielding such weapons since the mid-22nd century. They used them extensively on board ''Raptor''-class scoutships, as well as Bird's-of-Prey. ( ) In comparison, during the same period the Earth Starfleet was still employing the spatial torpedo, although they would soon upgrade to photonic torpedoes; less advanced precursors to the photon torpedo. ( ) The 24th century saw the deployment of an improved type of ordnance: the quantum torpedo. ( ) Nonetheless, photons continued to be utilized by such starships as the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)|USS Enterprise-E]]. ( ) Overview The components of a torpedo were contained within an elongated elliptical casing. ( ) The weapon was armed with a warhead filled with magnetically constrained matter and antimatter. Upon the detonation requirements being met (such as impact with another object) the magnetic constraint collapsed, allowing the reactants to combine. The resulting annihilation released energy in the form of EM radiation and particles (like neutrinos.) When fired, torpedoes appeared as conspicuous orange, red, or yellow orbs of light. Care had to be taken by the launching ship or installation when it came to firing a torpedo against targets at short range. Like all explosives, the energy released from the detonation was indiscriminate and could cause damage to the torpedo's source as well as the intended target. ( ) The Mark VI photon torpedo employed by Starfleet in the 24th century could be modified to carry a warhead with a maximum yield of 200 isotons. ( ) Other uses ]] *In 2293, Spock and McCoy modified a photon torpedo to follow a trail of ionized gas from Chang's Bird-of-Prey per Uhura's suggestion, allowing for the destruction of the Bird-of-Prey by the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise-A]] and the [[USS Excelsior|USS Excelsior]]. ( ) *Doctor Timicin from Kaelon II made several modifications to the guidance system of Starfleet photon torpedoes that would enable him to implement his theory of helium fusion enhancement and possibly revitalize the Kaelon sun. ( ) *Doctor Tolian Soran had Mark V torpedoes among his collection of solar probes in his lab aboard the Amargosa observatory in 2371. ( ) *By refitting the equipment carried within the casing, a torpedo could be modified to become an instrumented probe (like a Class-8 probe) or even a high-speed single occupancy spacecraft. ( ) *It has become something of a Starfleet tradition to place dead crew members inside an empty torpedo casing, and often such torpedoes are launched into space. Both Spock and Jadzia Dax were placed in empty torpedo casings after their deaths. Spock's body was fired upon the rapidly forming Genesis Planet. It is unclear, however, as to whether or not Jadzia Dax's body was launched into space, or if she received a more traditional Trill ceremony upon her passing. Upon the death of Dr. Ira Graves, his body was put in a torpedo casing and beamed into space. ( ; ; ) See also * Photonic shockwave * Torpedo * Torpedo bay * Torpedo launcher Background *The term "photon torpedo" was not used until fairly late into season one of Star Trek: The Original Series, in "Arena" (episode 19). Before that, when the ''Enterprise'' fired shots that looked like globular bursts, they were identified as phasers, as in TOS: "Balance of Terror". *The idea that the photon torpedo is a physical missile-like casing was never confirmed for the Enterprise of the original series. This idea was first introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as a graphic on Chekov's weapons display, but oddly enough Andrew Probert did not envision the photon torpedo to be a capsule even then, as he says in his 2005 Trekplace interview. He says "I envisioned them as what we saw during the TV era, they were glowing globs of plasma or some sort of energy. They weren't giant capsules. I envision them as big, glowy, dangerous blobs of... scariness." http://trekplace.com/ap2005int01.html *The original photon torpedo as it was used in TOS did not have a torpedo room that we saw nor which was mentioned in dialogue. Instead, it seemed more like a setting of the phaser weaponry, which may explain why the term "photon torpedo" was not actually introduced until quite late into the first season (episode 19, "Arena") and why globular bursts that the ship fired were called "phasers", like they were in "Balance of Terror" (episode 8) and a few others. Despite that, photon torpedoes were definitely physical missile-like casings by the time of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Technical Manual While the Technical Manuals themsleves are not canon, they are a Memory Alpha permitted resource. According to 'the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual: * Starfleet began developing two types of photon torpedoes starting in 2215, with the primary difficulty being the design of the warhead. The first type had the reactants driven together like in an implosion design nuclear weapon and had a maximum range of 750000 km.. This type was used during the the original series. The second type, which were first seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, had the reactants mixed together to increase the surface area between the deuterium and antideuterium, and driving up the rate of annihilation. This type had an effective tactical range of 3.5 million km. (pg. 128) * The warhead was loaded with 1.5 kg of antideuterium, and the torpedo had a dry mass of 247.5 kg. The torpedo was not capable of attaining Warp speeds if launched at sublight. (pg. 129) According to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual: * By this time, the torpedo had a dry mass of only 186.7 kg. The reactant capacity had increased 5 percent leading to a higher yield of 18.5 isotons. Effective tactical range was increased to over 4 million km. (pg. 84) * The self-destruct packages aboard the [[USS Defiant (NX-74205)|''Defiant]], and some on Deep Space 9, were composed of devices similar to the warheads found in torpedoes. (pg. 93, 134) External Links * Category:Weapons cs:Fotonové torpédo de:Photonentorpedo